During his time at PrintSoft, Dashwood held various regional and international, technical and business, middle and senior management roles, including his appointment as CEO of PrintSoft Americas in 2002. That same year, Dashwood received his EDP (Electronic Document Professional) certification from Xplor International.

On return to Australia, Dashwood moved into various regional and global services and solutions management positions with PrintSoft, and over his time on the board of Xplor Asia Pacific, held the roles of director of program development and secretary.

In April 2007, Dashwood received the EDP Award of Merit from OutputLinks for outstanding service to the industry. He ended his long service to PrintSoft early in 2008 to commence his own technology and consulting company and accept the vice president appointment from OutputLinks. We chat with Dashwood to learn more.

Question:
How did you get started in this industry?

Answer:
I got the computer bug in the 1980s while at High School. Like all good kids, I was still living at home with the folks when I was studying for my bachelor of computing (information systems) at Monash University in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield.

This was okay in itself, however, I felt a little push from my father to contribute a little more financially to my living arrangements than my fairly casual jobs were allowing.

I was going quite well at my studies---rather “nerd-like” in fact---and my Dad put the word out to a few of his mates to see if they had any work going.

My father is a welder by trade and since I was old enough to move an extension cord for him or be ready and waiting to hand him the tool he was about to need, I had labored for him on weekends and holidays. No surprise that my first gig was laboring for a mechanical engineer, but then in 1990, a mate of Dad’s had recently started a software company.  He and his business partner had been working out of a house and had just moved into an office, looking for someone to help part time with technical software assistance to clients.

The mate of Dad’s was Peter Murrihy, the company was PrintSoft, and the software PReS (actually it was simply PRS back then – Printer Resource Software, I even still have my September 1990 PRS Reference Manual…full of its Microsoft Windows 2.0 screen shots).

Things went very well and after university in 1991, I was looking for something more.  PrintSoft still was not at a stage to employ anyone full time (I remember Peter Murrihy walking in the office and saying, “yes, customer number six!”) but they wanted to help me find some other work in the industry.

I then started doing some casual laser printer operator work for one of PrintSoft’s early customers, Laser Computer Services (LCS).

I completed the Xerox 8700/9700 Laser Printer Operator Training (yes I can still probably replace a corotron wire, and polish a photoreceptor belt) and got some more casual work at another early PrintSoft customer, Salmat Security Imaging.

Salmat started their Security Imaging/Laser Printing division in September 1991 and work very quickly ramped up. Salmat had just taken delivery of the first Siemens Nixdorf 2090 duplex continuous printing system outside of Poing, Germany. 

A few hours a week turned into 60 hours a week (five 12-hour shifts) fairly quickly and by late 1991, they realized they needed a PReS programmer. I interviewed for the job and got it; employee No. 5  at Salmat Security Imaging (SSI) Victoria.

SSI started off with an old Videojet inkjet printer, two cut sheet Xerox printers (an 8790 and a 9790 MX), the SNI 2090 duplex system run by SPSS on a C40 or a PRS PC via a channel emulation card, a Type2 interface connected TROY TMP impact MICR printer, and Hunkeler roller/unwinder and continuous stacker. Added to this over the subsequent years was another SNI 2090 (they all then received 2140 then 2240 upgrades), the first three SNI  2075 cut sheet printers in Australia, a few Xerox 4135 MX printers, as well as a few high-end (for then) HP laser printers. It really was a great place to get a good level of broad experience.

Over my years at Salmat, I held supervisory and then technical management positions in the applications development and programming department (including being responsible for many of the major applications for banking and utility companies), but in early 1996---which had now become Salmat Laser Printing Services and was over 80-staff strong just in Victoria---I left Salmat and went back to PrintSoft as a full-time employee to manage the technical support department.

As employee No. 12 at PrintSoft, I was managing two staff (both of whom are still there today) and again in the prime position to grow myself in a company growing to be a leader in the high volume transaction output (HVTO) and general document and output industries.

Over the following years, I held various middle and senior, technical and business, regional and international management positions for PrintSoft in Australia and overseas (including CEO of PrintSoft Americas). I was intrinsically involved in the design and development of document solutions projects around the world, I ran internal and external training courses---including setting up the technical staff for many of PrintSoft’s Asia Pacific distributors---and presented at conferences and seminars on five continents.

In late 2007, I decided a change was in order. So after 12 years, early 2008 saw me leave PrintSoft to start my own company---Dashwood Consulting, offering technology, training and consulting services for effective document and Web-based communication---and take-up the regional management position for OutputLinks, after being appointed vice president – Asia Pacific.

Question:
What do you like most about working in the HVTO industry?

Answer:
Like any industry (particularly those that are IT-biased) the HVTO industry is constantly changing, however it still hasn’t lost much of what made it what it is today.

For years we have seen the merging of the data services bureau and commercial print industries, mainly through the emergence of full color digital printing systems, but the best of both worlds still remains.

Although it was early in my career that I moved into management roles, I have always stayed very technical; that’s where I started and that’s what I love!

Each time I explain or train someone about kerning or placing data in columns, micro-spacing or what a “dot” really is, I realize how lucky I was to have been at the right place at the right time---and good at the right things---to have grown with growing companies that both became leaders in their respective places in the industry. But I’m also lucky to have witnessed the most radical changes that the printing industry has ever seen, which occurred over the last 20 years, and I was smack dab in the middle of it all.

Watch for next week’s OutputLinks eNews as we chat more with Brett Dashwood, EDP, and learn about his thoughts on the industry. Brett Dashwood can be reached at bd@OutputLinks.com.

HVTO Q&A:
Brett Dashwood, EDP
Vide President, Asia-Pacific Region
OutputLinks

Segment Two

In segment one of this two-part article, Brett Dashwood, EDP, OutputLinks’ vice president of the Asia-Pacific region, talked about how he got started in this industry. In segment two of this story, Dashwood talks about his role at OutputLinks, industry trends and his advice for other high volume transaction output (HVTO) professionals.

Question:
Tell us about your role at OutputLinks.

Answer:
As vice president – Asia Pacific, my role at OutputLinks is to create and manage the OutputLinks business in Australia, New Zealand, the Asia Pacific region and Japan.

Question:
What do you hope to accomplish in this role?

Answer:
To help grow the industry for everyone. If the industry itself grows, then everyone can win.

OutputLinks services are read or used by thousands  of people representing the global 1000 companies in our industry from over 100 countries. I plan to work to bring the “best of breed” document solutions from around the world to this region, but by continuing to work with existing and new leaders in our industry. I am also hopeful of showcasing to the world what this region really has to offer.

In addition to the HVTO industry, I am also very excited about working more with the commercial print side of the industry, through OutputLinks’ acquisition of Graphic Communications World (GCW) earlier this year. GCW’s publication---often referred to as The Greensheet---has provided Kiplinger-style reporting to senior level executives for over 40 years, so this adds powerful new services to meet the information needs of today’s output professionals.

Question:
As someone who’s increasing the presence of OutputLinks in the Asia-Pacific region, tell us what benefits OutputLinks brings to the HVTO community?

Answer:
By targeting the senior management and executive level of the global 1000 companies in our industry, OutputLinks can give unparallel brand awareness to the people that matter in our industry, whether they be vendors, service providers or corporate end-users.

One of the exciting things that I see is around outsourcing. Australia and New Zealand, and some countries in Asia, are very much into outsourcing to print-for-pay service providers, however a majority of companies in Asia---particularly those producing high volume transactional output---are still printing their own documents. Many of these companies are doing so because they simply always have been, however it is amazing the number of people who---given the right proposal---would very easily move to an outsourcing situation. I see connecting all of these stakeholders as a great benefit to what I can help bring through OutputLinks.


Brett Dashwood with his wife.

Question:
Where do you see OutputLinks in the Asia-Pacific region five years from now?

Answer:
We are still in the early stages and currently it’s pretty much just me. There seems to be a great buzz from the people and companies we have talked to in the industry, but a large focus has been on building OutputLinks in the region, so that it is seen as the key resource it is by everyone in this region. We have already made International Media partnerships with All in Print China, held in Shanghai this November, where OutputLinks is running the “DMZone,” and also with PODi Aust NZ and their AppForum being held in September. In addition, we are talking to a number of other industry organizations in the region about getting involved with them and their events, looking at ways to enhance the value for their members.

As far as five years from now, we would like to be involved with every major industry organization and their events, to provide maximum marketing exposure and brand awareness for OutputLinks sponsors.

One of the big ways I see to further enhance this is with local content. This is not only an increased amount of content from throughout the region---which of course we continually want---but also local language content.

We already have a partnership with KeyinPrint China, which over the coming months will bring some great opportunities for companies by us providing content in Chinese, however I also envisage Japanese, Korean, Indian and other local language content being hosted too.

Question:
What industry trends are you paying attention to the most and why?

Answer:
I have always had a soft spot for what is now called transpromotional or transromo. In its simplest form, we were doing this almost two decades ago, by using customer data values to determine different marketing messages to appear on utility bills. Since then I have been trying to explain to as many people who will listen about the true value of variable documents---being the data---and how data values can be used effectively to drive content so much more than simply putting different values on the page.

Only a few years ago at ON DEMAND 2005 in Philadelphia, Pa., I presented the first incarnation of “Colorfully Transactional”, a presentation where I visually showed the merging of transactional and direct mail documents, creating “Response rated Transactional documents.”  I think we’re all pretty happy that this phrased didn’t catch…transpromotional has a bit better ring to it.

Over the few years since then, I have presented versions of this presentation in the U.S., Australia, Malaysia and a few times in China, and I still love seeing the eyes of those in the audience when the penny drops and they get it.

Question:
What’s your best advice for today’s HVTO company?

Answer:
Whether you are a vendor, a service provider or an end user, focus on what you are good at, but continue to learn and evolve.

By truly identifying your core business, focusing there and being an expert in it, you can partner with other expert companies for everything else you need. This will save you time and money, as well as enjoying logistics and administrative savings and allow you better opportunities to succeed and grow at the rate you want to. And of course being involved in OutputLinks is the best way of connecting with likeminded experts and industry leaders.

Question:
What’s your best advice for today’s HVTO professional?

Answer:
Pretty much the same thing, focus on what you are good at, but continue to learn and evolve.

This is an exciting time to be in our industry, make sure you stay up to date; otherwise, you will simply be left behind.

Question:
Thanks for your time. What’s the future of the transaction printing industry?

Answer:
I see the future bringing an increased use of transactional documents to effectively communicate relevant information to targeted recipients through data driven variable content and the appropriate use of color.

No matter how much marketing research you show people about the increased response rate offsetting the increased print cost and therefore creating substantial ROI savings on “any” type of document that requires a response---direct mail or transactional---the industry unfortunately still has a hang-up on the cost per printed page.

Full color digital printing has been around for ages now, and the death of black and white printing has been talked about almost as much as the paperless office, and we all know where that is!. Over the years we have seen numerous attempts at various full color printing systems entering into the transactional printing space, but other than Kodak with their Versamark, there hasn’t been a massive amount of global success to shift the current mindset about transactional documents---no surprise that although it has a fairly hefty upfront cost and we haven’t seen laser quality, the Versamark is significantly cheaper per page to run than equivalent laser or LED based systems.

The last couple of years though have seen new entrances into the full color, high quality and high speed market from Xerox, Océ, IBM, HP and others, and at drupa this year, we saw a range of new high-quality inkjet printing technology from most of the main players that looks like defining the next evolution of this side of the industry.

Brett Dashwood, edp, can be reached at bd@OutputLinks.com.